


#1 Robin

by truc



Series: It's 100% Bruce's fault, I swear! [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Adoption, Anger, Angst, Arguments, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce hoards feelings and objects, Competition, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Family is complicated, Gen, Jason Todd Needs Love, Jason Todd steals, Jealousy, Love, Miscommunication, One sentence about A/B/O verse, Rejection, Robin - Freeform, fight, mug - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28805085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truc/pseuds/truc
Summary: Newly adopted Jason Todd eavedrops on Nightwing's and Batman's fight.***As the first Robin took his helmet, he knocked open the Batcave's utility self. There sat a mug so awkward it sucked all the air of the large cave.#1 Robin, it read.The boy, hidden atop the dinosaur replica's head, had known of its dreaded existence.Standalone fic.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Pre-Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne relationship
Series: It's 100% Bruce's fault, I swear! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084232
Comments: 8
Kudos: 96





	#1 Robin

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to write the continuation of Merry-Go-Round, but this out-of-place canon story (for this series) keeps cropping up. So, I'll write it first.

Since he was young, Jason's power was his invisibility.

His parents didn't notice him; his teachers couldn't tell if he had or had not attended school; his victims paid him no heed. Nobody cared about the stray cats that dirtied the town's most impoverished district.

Getting noticed meant a beating or death for a stray street Alpha cat. A better fate than a stray street Omega cat, Jason supposed.

All in all, invisibility suited his noble profession of stealing. Survival was easier.

The sharpened edge of survival also pushed him to eavesdrop on the first Robin's and Batman's argument, to know his standing in his new home.

"...Why didn't you even tell me about _HIM_!?!" the first Robin gestured to the stairs.

"You didn't want to hear anything from me."

The first Robin snorted, eyes blazing glaciers, "So, you took another ward, another Robin to replace me because you thought I **WOULDN'T** care... _Hypocrite_. You're the one who doesn't care, the one who can only call to nag me, to say I'm not ready. I don't want to hear any of that. But that you're letting this kid take the Robin name- the name _my mother_ called me when I was young- without letting me know about it?"

From his hiding place, Jason saw the blue-themed hero wheeling on his mentor.

The black-themed man, with his cowl-his _defences_ \- lowered, replied in an even and tired tone, "You said you didn't want anything to do with me. I respected your will."

"Don't play word games with me! You never respected me, not a son, not as a partner. You've _always_ patronized me!" The man ripped off his blue mask, strode to the computer and picked up his bike's helmet.

Jason could see the bigger man raising one hand in his beloved son's direction before shakily dropping it. The younger man hadn't seen the movement, not even from the corner of his eyes. He didn't watch Bruce, not as Jason did.

As the first Robin took his helmet, he knocked open the Batcave's utility self. There sat a mug so awkward it sucked all the air of the large cave.

 _#1 Robin_ , it read.

The boy, hidden atop the dinosaur replica's head, had known of its dreaded existence. He once overheard- a word Alfred told him had a better connotation than eavesdropped- one of Alfred's and Bruce's numerous discussions. In it, the butler told his employer that he should get rid of the mug.

Bruce had grunted no. Alfred told him that, even though it was his gift to Richard, it could hurt the new ward. At that time, the bigger man had turned and said (and Jason could never forget it): "If I remove it now, he will think he's unwelcomed here, that I no longer care about our inside joke, about our relationship. And he doesn't want me to send him anything."

Yet, faced with the mug, elation did not appear on the first's Robin's face. On the contrary, his face grew blank; then, he narrowed his eyes.

The mug, grasped tightly by the man, was smashed to bits on the floor in a thundering sound.

Then, he strode to his bike, put on his helmet and rode off.

He didn't see Bruce that Jason saw; the eyes fixed on the destroyed mug, the silence in his soul.

The child understood that his mentor spoke in taciturnity, that each of his silences had its meaning and weight. He knew enough to guess the silence's significance.

Half an hour later, Bruce finally stopped decoding the mug with his eyes and removed his costume before making his way up.

When the coast was clear, Jason descended from the dinosaur, his comic books' box in his crisped hands. He made his way to the destroyed mug and glowered at it.

He emptied his box, took the Batcave's broom and brushed the pieces into it, making sure none were missing.

He'd glue it together and keep it as a trophy in his room.

Jason had been invisible until he met Bruce.

Even if the only things he could receive were the things his predecessor had childishly thrown away, he would take it.

Jason had _no_ pride.

**Author's Note:**

> I headcanon Dick giving Bruce a #1 Batman mug and Bruce gifting him a #1 Robin in return before everything else got more complicated. Yes, at that time, it was a harmless joke.
> 
> Batman should have removed the mug, however, he could not make himself do it (like Jason, he has an obsession with keeping meaningful objects- have you seen the Batcave?). 
> 
> Poor Jason.


End file.
